The 38-24 victory on Sunday over the Buffalo Bills was one of the more impressive cases made by the Oakland Raiders this season as a true playoff contender in the AFC. Oakland trailed by as much as 15 points at the half that afternoon, only for the team to stage the biggest comeback victory since its 2000 campaign.
There appeared to be no setback for Derek Carr and his injured pinkie finger on his throwing hand, as the young quarterback finished Sunday’s contest with 260 yards and a couple of scores on 19-of-35 passing. More importantly, Carr didn’t turn the ball over at all against Buffalo thanks the Raiders’ offensive line that has allowed a league-low 12 sacks to the opposition this season.
Meanwhile, running back Latavius Murray also did just enough damage from the ground on Sunday with 82 rushing yards and two rushing TDs on 20 carries to keep his QB from absorbing one too many hits.
With the offense seemingly still in tip-top shape, the Raiders must turn to its volatile defense to come up with huge plays against the Chiefs in Week 14. Their D could use another day like this past Sunday wherein it managed to sack Buffalo’s Tyrod Taylor four times and forced two crucial Bills turnovers in the second half. Stud linebacker Khalil Mack was the culprit of the late strip-sack of Taylor to seal the game for the Silver and Black, and he’s now tallied a sack in each of the past seven games.
Then again, the Raiders are still susceptible to an ugly loss against Kansas City this coming weekend. They’ve lost four straight meetings and six of the last seven against the Chiefs (2-5 ATS), and the boys from Arrowhead will certainly be ready for their visitors in Week 13. Which leads us to…
Off an even more bewildering victory than the Raiders in Week 13 are the Kansas City Chiefs, who pretty much stole a win from the Falcons in Atlanta, 29-28. The Chiefs held up the late one-point margin after a blocked two-point attempt by the Falcons was returned for a rare two-point score by Eric Berry with less than five minutes left in the contest.
Not only did Berry provide the late-game heroics via special teams on Sunday, he also had a defensive touchdown by way of a pick-six off of Atlanta’s Matt Ryan. All in all, the coveted safety has now given Kansas City a total of 25 takeaways for the season, which is tops in the NFL. The team’s plus-15 turnover differential is also the best mark in the league.
There’s not a whole lot to complain about the Chiefs’ offense, either. Alex Smith went a crisp 21-of-25 for 270 passing yards and a score on Sunday as the Chiefs’ 389 offensive yards was ultimately enough to stay toe-to-toe with the Falcons’ own explosive attack.
Kansas City can certainly build off of Week 13’s rather ugly victory, especially when you compare this Sunday’s performance to the team’s Week 6 win over the Raiders. Oakland amassed over 400 yards of offense in the first meeting, and yet the Chiefs needed just two key turnovers on defense to turn the tides and come away with a convincing 26-10 win in the Bay Area.
Given how the Chiefs have won 10 of their last 11 home games (4-7 ATS), which already includes that shocking two-point loss to the Tampa Bay in Week 11, it certainly appears that the Raiders will be in for another uphill battle indeed against a very familiar and resilient archenemy.
Writer’s Prediction
The Chiefs (-3) win a close one, 24-20, to sweep their season series against the Raiders and pull even with their division rivals for the top spot in the AFC West standings.
